Corporate Plan 2026 - 2031
Glossary of definitions used throughout our corporate plan
When we talk about people in our corporate plan, we are referring to all those who experience social care and social work throughout their life journey. This can be people of all ages – babies, infants, children, young people, adults and older people – and incudes their family, friends and those closest to them who may also provide care and support.
Social care support services are about providing people with the support and assistance they need to lead a full and active life. Social care support is delivered in a variety of settings, including people’s own homes, their local communities and care homes, by a mixed economy of public sector and independent services. Social care support is one part of a wider system, that includes social work services, housing, third sector, children’s services, early learning and childcare provision and community health.
For people to experience high-quality care they should be treated with dignity, respect, compassion, feel included, and experience responsive, person-centred care. This should support their mental health, wellbeing and safety. Care should be innovative, support positive outcomes for people, strive for excellence and promote a culture of continuous improvement.
Person-centred care is about ensuring the people who use services are at the centre of everything we do. Putting the person at the centre, identifying what is important in their life, ensuring that everyone is working together to achieve the same purpose of maximising the person’s independence and quality of life. (Iriss: Reshaping care and support planning for outcomes)
We undertake joint and strategic inspections either on our own or with partners. These inspections focus on the scrutiny, assurance and improvement of services provided by local authority social work services and partnerships. They look at services for children and families, adults and older people and people involved with the justice system. The inspections explore how adults’ and children’s rights are promoted and upheld, the extent to which they are enabled to exercise choice and control in how their support is provided, and the outcomes they experience.
We support quality improvement across social care, social work, local health and social care partnerships as well as early learning and childcare. We take a whole-system, collaborative approach to quality improvement – this involves identifying themes and trends from our scrutiny activities and responding to these with a targeted approach to quality improvement. Quality improvement is about giving the people closest to issues affecting care quality the time, permission, skills and resources they need to solve them. It involves a systematic and coordinated approach to solving a problem using specific methods and tools with the aim of bringing about a measurable improvement. (Quality improvement made simple)
The term ‘outcome’ is now in common usage in health and social care, reflecting a commitment to ensure systems support people using services and unpaid carers in ways that are person centred and effective.
Outcomes are defined as what matters to people using services, as well as the end result or impact of activities, and can be used to both determined and evaluate activity.
Personal outcomes are identified through good conversations with people using services during assessment and support planning. It is also critical that the outcomes are reviewed, to ensure the continued relevance of support and services, and to support service planning, commissioning and improvement. (Scottish Government National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes (2015))
When we talk about Scotland, we are referring to the provision of care and support across the whole of Scotland. We want everyone to experience high-quality care wherever they are, and we work to reflect the different context experienced in mainland Scotland, the remote and rural areas, and the island communities.
Rights-based approaches (RBAs) are frameworks that integrate human rights principles into policies and practices, empowering individuals and communities to claim their rights and hold duty-bearers accountable.
The role of a human rights-based approach is to ensure that the dignity of the individual is at the centre of policy and decision making. Where it is applied everyone affected will have an opportunity to help think through how human rights can best be realised in the delivery of care and support services. (Scottish Human Rights Commission)
We are dedicated to mainstreaming equality: mainstreaming ensures that equality considerations are embedded into our policies, decision-making processes, and day-to-day operations, rather than being treated as separate or additional obligations.
We have also agreed as an organisation to work towards acknowledging care experience as a protected characteristic.
This approach reflects our belief that advancing equality and protecting human rights are fundamental to achieving a fairer, more inclusive Scotland. By prioritising this work, we aim to address systemic inequalities, foster cultural change, while fulfilling our duties under the Equality Act 2010 and other relevant legislation
A trauma-informed approach means anticipating, understanding and responding to the impact of an individual’s experience of trauma, including their mental health and wellbeing. In working in a trauma-informed way, we aim to create the conditions to anticipate what might be difficult or retraumatising for someone to cause least harm and support their recovery. (National Trauma Transformation Programme)